


Glow

by Iheartinuyasha



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Crushes, F/M, Kidnapping, Love, Panic, Protectiveness, Worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26914279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iheartinuyasha/pseuds/Iheartinuyasha
Summary: What happens when Julie goes missing after school one day? A short fic about the sacrifices the band would make for each other.Updates every Friday♡
Relationships: Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 40
Kudos: 190





	1. Chapter 1

There was something altogether comforting about the level of trust Julie had instilled in her bandmates. Alex was comfortable being himself for the first time in ages. Reggie was his usual goofy, hilarious self. And Luke had never been so happy in his entire li-…well, afterlife.

This is exactly what Luke sat and pondered while he they waited for Julie to get home from school. Time hadn’t flowed the same when they first came back, seemingly unlimited amounts of time without the need to stop and eat or sleep or take care of a physical body. Ever since the day that Julie had broken Caleb’s curse on them, however she’d done that, they’d been dragged back to earth-time and Luke was finding it more and more difficult to sit still while he they waited for Julie each day.

“Would you please stop that?” Alex tossed a drum stick at Luke. It bounced off his knee harmlessly but it dissolved Luke’s line of thoughts. “You’ve been tapping your foot for almost an hour.”

“Sorry, man,” he said, his smile sheepish.

“I’m all for a good beat,” Alex explained as he stood up to get his drum stick off the floor where it landed. “But, you’re driving me nuts. Why don’t you take a walk until Julie gets home?”

“What makes you think I’m waiting for Julie?” he asked defensively.

“At exactly 2:37 in the afternoon, you become increasingly antsy until exactly 3:24 in the afternoon when Julie gets home from school and opens those doors,” Reggie said. At the blatant stares from the other two, he shrugged. “What? You don’t hide your crush very well.”

Luke put a hand on his chest, wounded. “I do not have a crush on Julie.”

Alex scoffed loudly and sat down at his drums. He tapped a beat on the cymbal. “Yeah. Okay.”

“I don’t!” 

Reggie held up a hand. “You stare at her. You talk about her when she’s not here. You fidget until you can be near her. You stutter when she talks to you. If you could blush, you’d be red any time she’s in the room.” He pointed to a finger as he listed each one.

“All that proves is that you have a crush on me.” Luke stood and started pacing. “Stalker.”

“You wish,” Reggie laughed. “I’m more into those glittery dancers we saw in the girl group from Julie’s school. You’re a scruffy-looking nerf herder,” he clarified.

Luke ran his fingers through his bangs. “Who’s scruffy-looking?”

Alex sighed. “I’m telling Julie that you guys are quoting Star Wars again.” When the other two just smiled at each other, he shook his head. “She’ll be home soon. Just relax.”

Luke tried. He really did. But the pacing turned into finger snapping which turned into humming and after another ten minutes, Alex stood abruptly. “I’m going to the beach. I’ll be back later.”

“Wait for me!” Reggie shouted before poofing after Alex. Luke rubbed the back of his neck and threw himself down on the worn couch that had once belonged to him.

The quiet of the studio drew him deeper into his thoughts about Julie. He couldn’t have a crush on her. Could he even love? He pressed his hand to his chest, above his heart. He didn’t feel it beating. How could he get close to Julie in that way knowing that he had nothing to offer her beyond their musical connection? 

If he were alive, would he pursue her? In a drumbeat. Their interesting, little relationship, as he had called it, was all it could be. She would grow older. She would meet someone alive. Someone would show interest in her. Someone who would be able to love her and touch her and give her things that he wouldn’t be able to. 

He brushed his hand over his chest again at the sudden ache he found. Was it possible to have your heart broken when you weren’t even alive? He blinked away a sudden wash of tears that flooded his vision. The tears raced down the sides of his face and he brushed them away. How would he survive without her? She was the literal reason they existed at all anymore.

He vowed to hide his feelings better. To not lead her on. To keep the musical chemistry in their performances and not let it bleed into the after. Glancing at the clock, he sat up abruptly.

4:15

He’d been lost in thought longer than he realized. Where was Julie?

Luke poofed into the house and dashed into the kitchen. She was probably eating a snack or working on homework in her room. The kitchen was empty so he took the stairs two at a time and knocked on her bedroom door softly. No answer. He slid through the closed door and one quick glance showed him that her room had been unbothered since she left for school that morning. He poofed to the beach to find Alex and Reggie, a strange heaviness settling in his stomach. 

He didn’t have to search long before he found Reggie laying in a lounge chair, eyes closed and hands tucked behind his head as though he were basking in the warm sun. Alex was standing at the waters edge, watching the waves wash up over the sand.

“Guys,” he called out. Alex turned upon hearing his voice and poofed to the edge of the lounge chair Reggie was sitting on. “Julie didn’t come home.”

“She’s probably with Flynn,” Reggie said without opening his eyes.

Alex waved off his worries with a lazy hand. “Don’t get yourself worked up. She might have had something at school after classes.”

Luke shook his head. “This doesn’t feel right.” He wasn’t sure where Flynn lived so without another word he poofed off of the beach and into the hallway of Julie’s school. 

Thank God for ghost powers, he thought. Otherwise he’d be running all over the place and it would take forever.

The school was empty aside from the janitor he’d seen a few weeks ago. The uneasy feeling churned hotter in his stomach and Luke found his way to the school office. He almost felt bad as he skimmed through the various filing cabinets looking for Flynn’s personal file. He needed her address. 

He was getting better at being able to touch things he noted as he sifted through the various folders until he located what he was looking for. She didn’t live too far from Julie so he poofed to her street and jogged to the correct address. He wasn’t even subtle when he walked straight through Flynn’s front door and through her home. They wouldn’t see him anyway.

Her mother was bustling in the kitchen and her father was at a desk with a newspaper open in front of his face. Luke breezed through all of the rooms in their house but didn’t find Flynn. He poofed back into the studio just as Flynn was pushing the doors open. She was alone.

“Hello?” she called out. “Hey ghost boys! Are you here?”

Luke walked over and tapped on the cymbal on Alex’s drum set. Flynn caught the sound and said, “I think something’s wrong.”


	2. Chapter 2

Luke tapped the cymbal again, urgently. 

Flynn nodded. “Something’s going on. I can’t find Julie.”

Luke felt the floor tilt in the room and swayed on his feet. He stumbled over to his song journal and tapped the pen against it to get Flynn’s attention. She followed the sound and watched as the pen moved seemingly on its own. She squinted at the chicken scratch on the paper.

“Where, no, when, uh,” she said, leaning in closer to the notebook. “I can’t read this. Julie told me Luke has horrible handwriting. Can someone else write?”

Frustrated, Luke poofed to the beach, wrapped his hand around Alex’s arm and poofed back into the studio, dragging the drummer back with him.

“Hey!” Alex shouted. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Flynn can’t read my hand writing,” he said, gesturing toward the open notebook.

“Why are you writing to Flynn?”

“Julie is missing.” Luke couldn’t hide the tremor in his voice. “Ask her when was the last time she saw Julie.”

Alex grabbed the pen and jotted the question down. 

Flynn sighed. “Much better,” she said. “Julie got a call as we were leaving last period and said she had to leave. She looked worried.”

“Who called her?” Luke asked as Alex wrote.

“I don’t know. The phone number came up as Unknown.”

Luke knew that his knowledge of cellphones was limited so he searched his memories of the times Julie would show him the device. “Did she try texting Julie?”

Alex wrote it down.

“I sent her eight messages. It says that she’s read them but she hasn’t responded.” Flynn sat down on the couch in front of the notebook. “What if something is seriously wrong?” 

Reggie popped in and landed on the couch beside Flynn. “Whoa! Why do you all look so serious?”

“Julie went missing from school,” Alex explained. They shared a look before glancing at Luke. His eyebrows were knit together in worry.

“Ask her-,” he started. “I don’t know!” He put his hands in his hair and turned away. “I don’t know what to do!” 

“Did you tell Ray?” Alex spoke as he wrote.

Leaning forward to see the notebook, Flynn shook her head. “I wanted to check with you guys first, but if she’s not with you, then I think that’s the next course of action.”

Luke sat down on one of the armchairs as the world buzzed around him. 

Flynn raced into the house and filled Julie’s family in on the events of the afternoon, minus the ghost interactions. Ray called the police. Carlos, teary-eyed and frightened, held onto Flynn’s hand as they stood by Ray. 

They rest of the band hovered around the studio, both finally too nervous to sit still. Luke slid his hands into his hair and stared at his shoes. Thirty minutes later, Flynn came into the studio, her expression bringing Luke back to his feet.

She glanced around the room, not able to make eye contact with any of them. “Ray tracked Julie’s phone.”

Alex tapped on the metal rim of his snare drum, urging her on.

“He found it on the sidewalk outside of our school.”

Alex stood up suddenly, eyeing the band seriously. “I’ll be right back.” He poofed out before the other two could so much as ask where he was going. He was back in only a few minutes, dragging a disheveled Willie with him. “I know you can’t be here, or be with me, but I need to know if you’ve seen Julie.”

Willie looked around them quickly, his eyes darting back to the ground as he pulled at the hem of his worn t-shirt. “I’m sorry,” he finally said before poofing away. 

The three ghosts shared a devastating look. Caleb. 

Alex ran to the notebook and tapped the pen against it to draw Flynn’s attention. She watched as he scratched down a quick message before the boys nodded at each other and poofed away.

Flynn picked up the notebook, a hand fluttering to her lips as she let out a strangled sob. 

"We’ll save her."


	3. Chapter 3

The ghost band landed outside The Hollywood Ghost Club. The club was a few levels below a luxury hotel and that made for the perfect cover for the better dressed ‘guests’ that sold their souls to Caleb.

Luke started to dash forward toward the swinging doors of the hotel lobby when Alex grabbed his arm. 

“We need a plan,” he said.

“The plan is to get Julie and to poof the heck out of there,” Luke explained, slamming his fist into the palm of his other hand.

“You can’t just poof Julie,” Reggie reminded him. “She’s not a ghost. She’s just a girl.”

“She’s our girl,” Luke shouted. Alex and Reggie watched Luke. Head down, hands balled into fists. “We’ve already lost so much. We can’t lose her too,” he finished, his voice low.

Alex bit his lip and thought. “Okay, here’s what we do. I’ll go to Caleb and tell him how much I miss Willie and that I’m considering joining his band so that I can be with him. While I have him distracted, you two look for Julie and get her out. When you’re good, find a way to signal me and I’ll poof out.”

“Alex, you can’t-,” Reggie started. 

“Well, if either of you have a better idea, then I’m all ears!” Alex shouted. The other two ghosts looked at their feet. “That’s what I thought. So, I’ll go first. Sneak in after me.”

They nodded at each other and Luke put his hand forward. “Band circle?” The other two each put a hand on top of Luke’s. “It’s now or never,” Luke said solemnly. Alex and Reggie nodded, recognizing the lyrics from their original song and how it couldn’t be truer in that exact moment. They bounced their hands one before Alex poofed into the club.

Alex landed seated at the same table from when the boys had first visited the club. He tried to stand but an invisible force was holding him to the chair. 

“Alex, what a surprise! How are you?” Caleb appeared across the table from him.

Alex glared at him and tried to stand again. “What have you done?”

“You’ll have to be more specific,” Caleb said as a waiter appeared holding a cocktail. “I’m very busy.”

“Where is Julie?”

“I own this club,” Caleb swirled his drink and took a sip. “I’m always on the lookout for fresh talent. You know that.” He held up a finger when Alex started to speak. “I own everything and everyone in this club.” Leaning forward, he finished, “I know the minute that you and your bandmates step foot inside it.”

As he spoke, Reggie and Luke poofed into the seats on either side of him. They struggled for a second before turning on Caleb.

“Where is Julie?” Luke bellowed. 

Caleb clicked his tongue at Luke and finished his drink before standing. “You’re in for a real treat. I’ve acquired some new talent for my guests. I hope you enjoy the song.” Caleb’s voice was sickeningly sweet as he winked at them and poofed to the stage.

“I can’t move,” Reggie said, still struggling.

“It’s no use,” Alex explained to them. “As soon as we came in here, he got control.”

The stage band started to play a familiar tune and Luke’s head jerked toward the stage. They’d started playing a jazz rendition of Finally Free. Fog floated around, hovering just above the floor as Julie came up from a trap door. She sang her part of the song, but it wasn’t with her usual intensity. Her voice sounded hollow and Luke took it like a punch to the gut. He screamed her name but she couldn’t hear him over the band. 

Caleb strutted across the stage when the song got to Luke’s part and pulled Julie to the center of the stage with him. The three bandmates struggled in their seats as Caleb whispered something in her ear. Eyebrows knotted together, she nodded and pasted on a smile. Luke could tell it was fake immediately and he gritted his teeth together to keep from screaming again.

“I’ve got a spark in me,” she sang.

“I’ve got a spark in me,” Caleb echoed.

“And you’re a part of me,” her voice tremored on the line.

“And you’re a part of me,” Caleb glanced back at Luke, singing the part that struck home the most. It was in that moment during their original performance that Luke knew Julie meant more to him than just a bandmate. 

When the song ended, Caleb pumped up the audience and they cheered louder for Julie. Her smile was still forced as she curtsied. Caleb held out a hand to help her down off the stage. “You have some guests in the audience.”

The moment Julie’s eyes met Luke’s, he froze in place. “Please,” he said to Caleb. “I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll be in your band for all eternity. Just let her go.”

“Luke, no!” Julie cried. “Why are you doing this?” She yanked her hand out of Caleb’s and rounded on him. “You have everything you could possibly want.”

Caleb’s smile tightened around the edges. “I want them. And I always get what I want.” He clicked his fingers and a cuff appeared around Julie’s wrist. She swiped and tugged at it, trying to slide it off. “As long as you have that,” Caleb gestured at the cuff. “You’ll never be allowed to leave this club.”

Alex, Reggie and Luke shared a look and all glanced back at Julie. Their hearts broke as her face contorted into a look of devastation.

“You can’t do this,” she told them. Fat tears leaked from her eyes and down her cheeks. “I can’t lose you too.”

“Do we have a deal?” Caleb cupped a hand around his ear and waited for their reply.

“Under one condition,” Luke said, his voice low, eyes filled with tears. “We get to say goodbye.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Happy (almost) Halloween! Leave a pumpkin in the comments if you're buying candy but not passing it out so you can avoid people and eat all the candy yourself!

“No!” Julie yelled, but Caleb nodded and snapped his fingers again. The boys were freed from whatever invisible hold Caleb had on them. A waiter appeared at his side with a chair and he sat down to watch the exchange.

“Julie-,” Alex started. 

“Don’t! I won’t say goodbye!” She sobbed.

The boys looked at each other, fresh tears falling from each of their eyes. 

Reggie bit out a mocking laugh. “I was just starting to get Ray to trust me.”

“Julie.” Luke stepped forward and pressed his hand to her cheek. “I know I told you that we had no regrets, but there’s no point to us,” he gestured at his bandmates. “Without you.”

“We would regret this,” Alex pressed his hand into Julie’s.

“Every single day of our existence.” Reggie put his hand in Julie’s free hand. 

“My heart is breaking,” she whispered.

“When I saw you on stage with him, I felt like I’d died all over again,” Luke admitted. “He can’t have you.”

“I’m nothing without the three of you,” she dropped her gaze from Luke’s. Was this the last time she’d ever get to see him? Any of them?

“You’re everything,” he said, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb. Luke leaned forward, fighting the pain in soul, and pressed a soft kiss on Julie’s lips. “I love you.”

Alex and Reggie squeezed her hands and said “I love you,” before the three of them stepped closer and enveloped her in a hug.

Julie cried silently in the middle of their group hug as her heart shattered. She closed her eyes and reached for them, drawing them closer still, until there was no more space between them. “I love you. I’ll never stop loving you,” Julie sobbed. “I’ll never forget you.”

A quiet light glowed around her and Julie opened her eyes to find her three boys in a golden haze. They stepped back from her, glancing around at each other.

“Just like last time,” Alex commented, looking at the fronts and backs of his hands.

“What is this,” Caleb asked as he leaned forward in his chair, glaring in confusion.

“This is what broke your curse the first time,” Luke growled. He turned back to Julie. “I think your love is what keeps us here,” he told her.

“I love you,” she said again and the glow around them flared brighter.

Luke pulled Julie’s hand into his own and pressed his fingers around the cuff. It glowed gold before sizzling away, leaving her wrist unblemished. 

“No!” Caleb shouted. “How is this possible?”

Pressing Julie behind them, the boys formed a wall between her and Caleb. “This is over,” Luke told him.

Caleb snapped his fingers, trying to poof the boys into the chairs they’d been restrained in. When none of them moved, he stood and stomped toward them. He grabbed for Reggie’s arm but his hand passed through it and Reggie snickered.

“Looks like we’re done here,” Alex said.

“Let’s go,” Luke said, grabbing onto Julie’s hand and heading for the stairs. 

Alex and Reggie walked behind them and as soon as they reached the street, Reggie let out a deep breath. “Holy crap!” he said. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

Alex, Luke and Reggie started to high five each other, the seriousness of the situation bringing out a giddiness in each of them. It wasn’t until Julie pressed her hands to her face to hide her tears that they stopped. They looked at each other and crowded in around her again, hugging her as she shuddered.

“Caleb called my phone when I was in school and said that he had you guys and that if I ever wanted to see you again, I’d come down to the club. So, I rushed here and it was all a trap. I got us into this mess because I didn’t even stop to think that it might have been a trick.”

Alex put his arm around her shoulders. “You didn’t know it was a trap.”

“Yeah,” Reggie said, play-punching her shoulder. “We should feel honored that you’d just jump head-first into danger for us.”

“Of course I would!” she shouted. “You’re my family.”

“You have others to think about too, though,” Luke reminded her.

At that, Julie’s face dropped. “What am I going to tell my dad?”

They stared at each other.

“You guys go ahead. I’ll walk Julie back,” Luke said. Alex and Reggie nodded and poofed away. Luke grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled her forward. “Let’s get this over with.”

As they walked, Julie tried to keep her mind focused on the story she was going to tell her dad. And she was definitely not thinking about the fact that Luke had kissed her and was now holding her hand. She felt heat creep up her face and knew that that was going to take time to process. Luke, for the most part, looked like he wasn’t even worried or thinking about it.

The walk back to the suburbs where Julie lived was too fast and too slow at the same time. When she reached the front steps, the door whipped open and she was pulled into the loving embrace of her father.

“Julie, I was so scared,” he whispered harshly.

“Dad, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t call you,” she told him, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. She hugged him back. “I’m so sorry,” she said again.

Luke watched Ray as he swiped a tear away from his eye. He longed to be hugged that way by his mom. 

Ray cleared his throat and stepped back. “We have a lot to talk about,” he said.

“I know, Dad,” Julie said, blotting her eyes on the sleeve of her sweater.

“And I have you to thank for bringing my daughter home?” Ray continued.

Luke stepped back as Ray made direct eye contact with him. 

“Wait,” Julie paused, confused. “What?”

“Julie, I think he can see me.”


	5. Chapter 5

Julie glanced up at her dad and back to Luke. Ray was definitely looking directly at him. “You can-,” she started.

“Yes,” Ray said, glancing back at his daughter. “I was especially taken back when two of your ‘out-of-country’ bandmates popped into my kitchen out of nowhere a little bit ago. So was Carlos and Flynn.”

Julie gaped at her dad, mouth moving but no sound coming out.

“Come on,” Ray gestured and opened the door behind him. Julie walked into the house and Luke walked up the steps to follow but hesitated. “It’s okay,” Ray told him gently.

Luke followed Julie into the kitchen where they found Carlos, Flynn and the rest of the band. Ray cleared his throat as he walked into the kitchen.

“I’m just going to mention the elephant in the room,” he said, looking at each of them. “Clearly, you’re not from another country. So, why don’t you all explain what is going on.”

Each of them started talking at the same time and through the noise Ray held up his hands. “Okay, stop. Julie, you go first.”

“Okay, but you have to keep an open mind,” she told him. At his nod, she took a deep breath and continued. “They’re ghosts and they died 25 years ago from eating hotdogs out of the trunk of someone’s car. We thought they had unfinished business to play at the Orpheum but it turns out it wasn’t that. Caleb, another ghost, wants them to play in his band for all eternity because he can’t stand when other ghosts have powers that he wants and they told him no and I saved them somehow from a curse he put on them and that’s why he called me at school today to set a trap for them because he won’t stop until he has them.”

The room stayed silent when she finished. 

“Wow,” Alex said.

“I can’t believe you said that all in one breath,” Reggie agreed.

“Mr. Molina, what she means is-” Luke started.

“Ray,” he cut Luke off. “Call me Ray.”

Luke swallowed. “Ray,” he continued. “What she means is that she saved us not once, but twice now and we owe her our after-lives.”

“They saved me too,” Julie told him. “In more ways than one.”

“We’re better together,” explained Reggie. Alex nodded his agreement.

“I knew there were real ghosts in this house! Who was it on the blinds and under the sheet?” Carlos bobbed up and down in his chair when Reggie raised his hand.

“I’m sorry I scared Aunt Vic,” he said to Ray.

Ray waved a hand to dismiss his worry. “She needs a good scare every once in a while.”

“I’m sorry,” Flynn interrupted, holding up her hands to stop the others from speaking. “This is all fun and everything but what the heck is going on? How can we see you guys? How is this happening?”

Ray nodded. “Yes, that’s the original reason we’re all here. What is going on?”

The group shook their heads in unison. “We don’t know,” Alex answered.

“When Julie broke the curse Caleb put on us, she was suddenly able to touch us,” Luke explained. “When Caleb trapped us in his club tonight, Julie broke that curse too.”

“I think it means we’re meant to be together.” Reggie smiled and turned to Ray. “I’m so happy you can finally see me. Our one-ended conversations were starting to get sad.”

“What?” Ray said, his face confused. Julie’s yawn broke through the conversation and Ray clapped his hands together. “As weird as this-,” he gestured at the boys, “-is, you kids need to get to bed. School in the morning.”

“I’ll see you upstairs,” Flynn said as she started for Julie’s room.

Carlos dragged his feet to the stairs and muttered under his breath, “Just when things were starting to get good around here.” 

Alex chuckled at his comment and poofed out into the studio. 

Reggie sidled up next to Ray. “Coffee at 7?”

The confused look appeared on Ray’s face again and he shook his head. “How-?”

“Come one Reg,” Luke pulled him away. Luke glanced over at Julie and gave her a meaningful look before he and Reggie poofed into the studio.

“You’re taking this surprisingly well,” Julie told her dad.

“Have they-,” he started. “Do you think they’ve seen-,” he couldn’t finish.

“No, they haven’t seen Mom.”

Rays face dropped but he smiled at his daughter. “Weird. This whole thing is weird.”

“Don’t I know it,” she laughed. 

“I’m glad you’re safe. No more secrets mija.” Ray kissed Julie on her forehead and started toward his bedroom. He paused in the doorway. “Reggie?” he asked.

Julie giggled. “You and Reggie are better friends than you know.”

Her dad whispered out another “weird” before shutting his door behind him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. A long time ago, I used to write fanfiction on fanfiction.net so I thought I'd give it ago since I'm obsessed with this show


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